
Tune into WOL 1450 AM, 95.9 FM or the WOL Livestream on Thursday, February 6 at 10:30 a.m. EST for Everything Co-op, hosted by Vernon Oakes. This week, Everything Co-op kicks off its 2025 Black History Month series. This year’s Black History Month theme, as designated by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, is “African Americans and Labor.”
This theme emphasizes the significant and varied ways in which different forms of laborâboth free and unfree, skilled and unskilled, vocational and voluntaryâintersect with the collective experiences of Black people. Joining Vernon for this discussion is Julian Hill, an abolitionist and lawyer specializing in the solidarity economy.
Julian Hill is an assistant professor at Georgia State University College of Law. Hill is a teacher, lifelong learner, community organizer, artist, and attorney who knows that the world we deserve, though both possible and necessary, is not inevitable. Hill regularly advises worker cooperatives, collectives, nonprofits and small businesses on a range of matters, including governance, contracts, regulatory compliance and corporate law.
Hill also partners with community-based organizations to co-facilitate political education and co-develop policies and campaigns. They have facilitated workshops, both in English and Spanish, on worker cooperatives and the solidarity economy with Law 4 Black Lives, the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives, Democracy at Work Institute, New York City Network of Worker Cooperatives, and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, among others. They have prepared and delivered testimony before both the New York State Assembly and the New York City Council on issues facing worker cooperatives and small businesses in New York City. Hill is licensed to practice law in Georgia, New York and Washington, DC.